Architect to offer homes for £40000

Tag : Home Tool Kit
to support the launch of his company, Anabo. He will buy plots,obtain planning permission, lay building foundations and buypre-fabricated houses from a construction company.

Customers would visit Anabo's website to find a location, ordertheir house, configure it to their own requirements and arrange thefinance. Within 10 days the house should be ready for occupation.

While the concept is at an early stage, Stoane plans to have aprototype house constructed at a site in Edinburgh by the autumnand a pilot scheme up and running in Scotland next year. His aim isto expand Anabo into a global housing supplier.

He said: "As far as I know there aren't any other companies whichwill manage the whole process from start to finish. I came up withthe idea to tackle the problem of affordability. With the averageUK house price now £200,000, it is virtually impossible for a21-year-old on £20,000 to buy their first home. Also, as anarchitect, it annoys me that the housing industry is refusing tomodernise, and I want to change that."

Stoane said the total cost of a home will be £1,000 per squaremetre. He will offer a range of designs, including a 40 squaremetre pod for £40,000 aimed at first-time buyers, and a 120 squaremetre family home for £120,000.

Anabo is one of the companies exhibiting at the EPIS Tech Expo atthe University of Edinburgh on Thursday, which is intended toattract investment for start-ups.

Another is Mysnocat.com, a firm supported by EPIS and withinvestment from Christopher Weston, the former owner of PhillipsAuction House, to develop a tool to help online traders.

Mysnocat.com founder Simon Montford is working with programmers andartificial intelligence experts at the University of Edinburgh on atool that can be plugged into e-commerce sites, such as eBay, tomake it easier for users to sell goods online. It will also act asa networking site for collectors who trade online.

EPIS, a joint venture between the University of Edinburgh andScottish Enterprise, houses around 50 start-ups which it helps witha loan of £10,000, incubator space, a mentor and access toacademics and equipment.

Adrian Smith, director of EPIS, said: "While other incubators onlyrent space to start-ups, being part of EPIS gives companies accessto facilities at the university usually only available to academicsand students."